Chapter 3
Samuel, having called the people to Mizpah, seeks a king by lot and finds Saul; a part of the chosen people eventually follow him, while the rest despise him. "And Samuel called the people together unto the Lord to Mizpah," etc. In this reading, Saul signifies both the arrogance of the proud and the humility of the Lord and His faithful. By rejecting the Lord, who brought Israel out of Egypt, rescued them from the hands of the Egyptians, saved them alone from all evils, and established him as king, signifies a disobedient people, preferring to reign over themselves rather than God, representing either the Synagogue or the Church’s people. For today, not a few, neglecting Christ's commands—who called them from the darkness of error to faith, rescued them through baptism from the power of darkness, and protected them from the course of all evils always by chastising—prefer to serve their own corrupt lusts. Saul indeed signifies the Lord the Savior, in that he descended from the tribe of Benjamin, that is, the son of the right hand, because His love and faith are perfectly generated only in those who belong to the right side of the kingdom. That he is from the family of Metri, that is, the kind of rain that says: "Let the earth hear the words of my mouth. My speech shall distill as the dew." Whence the ardent seeker of His kingdom also said: "My soul thirsts for You like a parched land" (Psalm 142). And about Him elsewhere: "He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass" (Psalm 72). Saul, meaning petition or one who was asked for, signifies that he should always be sought after for the heavenly kingdom and that entrance should be sought with every intention. That he is the son of Cis, meaning hard or difficult, suggests that God the Father is not a man that He should change, nor a son of man that He should repent; or because his faith-filled people, in whom His love is always generated, declare strongly amid adversities: "Therefore, I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed" (Isaiah 50). That he was hidden at home when anointed king, or when they were coming to take him, and establish him as king, fled, signifies that He must be sought within, can be found within, and teaches what is within, showing the way within. That he was taller than all the people signifies who among the sons of God can be like God. That he had a home in Gibeah, that is, on a hill or high place, symbolizes the city set on a hill, of which it is written: "A man was born in her; and the Highest Himself shall establish her" (Psalm 87). That he went with the part of the army whose hearts God had touched. That the sons of Belial, that is, of the devil or pestilence, who despised him, are named. That he disregarded those speaking against him; for He said: "I seek not my own glory: there is one that seeks and judges" (John 8).
[1 Samuel 10:25] -- But Samuel spoke to the people the law of the kingdom, etc. John the Baptist spoke, as did the other prophets, to the people the law of the heavenly kingdom, which is given through Christ; and each wrote in his own book, and placed them among the sacred Scriptures, in which alone the divine will is always found. Certainly, according to the letter, it should be said that above, where the law of the king is promulgated, his proud presumption is foretold to allay the obstinacy of the requesting people. Here indeed, through the spoken, written law of the kingdom and stored for the sake of memory before the Lord, it is declared what kind of good ruler and what kind of spirit towards subjects he ought to have, according to the commands of Deuteronomy.
[1 Samuel 10:25] -- And Samuel dismissed all the people, etc. Even today, a teacher dismisses the congregation after the sermon is finished, similarly, once the reading of the little script is concluded, he dismisses all the listeners, each to their own conscience, so that they may reconsider what they have heard through meditation, and by acting on what they have meditated, may bring it to perfection. But if anyone is disturbed as to why I have presumed to interpret the deeds of a reprobate king allegorically in relation to Christ, who is the King of Kings, let him know that it is customary for interpreters, indeed it is the essence of the Scriptures, to draw either good from evil or an allegorical form from a good man, where such an order is necessary, impartially. Otherwise, it would never be appropriate to write with black ink, but always with bright gold, or some other honorable form; for God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1). A dark color does not unorderly signify brightness. Accordingly, Blessed Pope Gregory did not doubt to transfer even the anointing of the same Saul, not only to the kingdom of Christ but also his death, which befell because of his sin, to signify allegorically the innocent death of Christ. For you may read his exposition in Job, where he says, "Let the day perish in which I was born." Similarly, concerning King Jehoiachin, who, condemned for his crime, is carried away from Judah to the Chaldeans, he understands it as representing the Lord being transferred from the unbelieving Jews to the salvation of the Gentiles. Likewise, the Church refers all the wisdom, sayings, and actions of Solomon, though he gravely sinned afterwards, to be figures of praises of Christ. Quite a few Church commentators, as the Apostle says, "The rock was Christ," understand the rod that struck the rock as the cross of Christ, and Moses and Aaron, holy men who struck it, as representing the chief priests and doctors of the law, that is, the Pharisees, who crucified the Lord. And if that rock, although offering salutary drinks to the people, a rock nonetheless adhering to the back of the countryside with natural mass, signifies the ineffable gifts of Christ, or that patriarch anointed with holy chrism proclaims the Son of God anointed with the holy oil of the Spirit; or certainly Cyrus, the Persian, though a reasonable man yet wholly alien to the faith and sacraments of Christ, could rightly be consecrated in type or name for the congruity of prefiguring Christ: why could not a man of Christ, consecrated in youth with mystical anointing to Christ, illustrious unto death with the most holy name, predictively proclaim the future deeds of Christ in the flesh through figurative representation? It is also to be noted more attentively that the Scripture itself does not approve of all things it takes up as examples. For it is not to be thought that the wise man preached the art of the Marsi, which is undoubtedly demonic, when he says: "Who shall heal the enchanter bitten by the serpent?" The sense of which saying is, who will correct a teacher deceived by the devil? And if it seems novel to anyone that the same Saul is said to signify both good and evil at the same time, let him see the holy man Isaac blessing his son, but not recognizing the same son, as a type of the Jews, who having long sung of Christ the Savior coming blessed in the name of the Lord, did not recognize Him already present in the flesh by faith. Let him see the same son both blessed by an angel and rendered lame, signifying the Jewish nation, blessed indeed in those who believe in Christ, but lame in those who persecute Christ. And so, through the good, good things, through the evil, evil things, and through the evil, good things are figuratively represented freely according to places and times. However, in the reception of rewards, the good bring only the good things they have done, and the evil bring only the evil things they have done. Just as Ethiopians drawn in black color and a fair Saxon, discerned by their native color, can be easily and without any controversy distinguished, but differently in a painting, where unless each person is transformed into their proper colors as well as forms, the shamelessly deceptive picture, which has promised an image, is accused.